SALTO GEO electronic cylinder locks secure new buildings in Reykjavik

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre is part of a harbour development project

One of the most stunning new buildings in Iceland has chosen SALTO GEO electronic cylinder locks to provide a state-of-the-art access control solution as part of its overall security package.

Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre is part of an extensive harbour development project in Reykjavik, the East Harbour Project. Designed by Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen Architects and Icelandic architectural firm Batteriid Architects, the building’s design is based on a geometric principle reminiscent of the crystallised basalt columns commonly found in Iceland.   

As the name indicates, the overall objective of the project is to expand and revitalise Reykjavík's eastern harbour with a new downtown plaza, a shopping street, a hotel, residential buildings, educational institutions, and mixed industry. The building is the ideal venue for various concerts and musical events, international conferences, conventions with accompanying trade shows, as well as meetings.

In fact, Harpa has already welcomed over 1.6 million guests and an impressive cast of celebrated musicians and cultural icons including Jamie Cullum, Brian Ferry, German tenor Jonas Kaufmann, world-renowned pianist Maria Joao Pires, violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov, conductor Gustavo Dudamel and both the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philharmoniker to its halls since opening.

Situated slightly apart from Reykjavík's traditional centre, the building has become a significant visual icon in the city thanks to its stunning design. Harpa´s location means that, to a great extent, the changing climatic and light effects experienced in this most beautiful of Northern cities will be amplified and exposed in the multi-faceted exterior of the building, dramatically contrasting the shadow often experienced in the older narrow streets in the rest of the city.

With regards to internal door security, specifying the correct access control solution was a vitally important consideration from the outset for the buildings designers. Keen to ensure their cutting edge design incorporated the very latest security innovations they wanted to avoid use of inflexible master key systems. Instead they wanted simplicity, affordability and a fully scalable solution that allowed instant upgrades at any time.

"The GEO system sets the benchmark for access security across many applications and after listening to what the architects and designers wanted to achieve it was the ideal choice for Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre," comments Jesper Buch SALTO Systems Business Development Manager Nordic Countries.  "Working in consultation with Henning Larsen and Batteriio architects we designed a highly secure and flexible access control system to meet all of the needs of the building owners. The advanced GEO design understands the building’s needs, its technology, how it needs to work and how flexible it needs to be. It is a powerful wire-free access control technology that’s easy to install in any kind of door,” Buch continues.

It currently controls over 100 doors in the building with more doors continually being added to the system. The operating technology of the cylinders is DESfire EV1 and to ensure access is never compromised SALTO’s patented Data-On-Card SVN™ (SALTO Virtual Network) system is also incorporated as standard. This allows the stand-alone GEO cylinders and locks to upload, store and download the latest access information as people use their DESfire EV1 RFID cards throughout the building. The cancelled key list can be updated, key cards can be cancelled and audit trail reports can be downloaded at will, all of which delivers additional security and operating benefits compared to standard locking systems.

"With their ability to customise both the access system hardware and software to our requirements, the SALTO GEO solution has the flexibility we need," comments Helga Thors, Marketing Manager at Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Centre. “It enables us to control the security of the entire building, including authorising or denying access privileges to individual rooms all from one control point and most importantly it can grow to meet our ongoing future security needs as required.”